Coupons, coupons, coupons!

So I am currently infatuated with coupons and weekly sale papers.  In an effort to help along our Dave Ramsey program, I have taken inventory of the pantry, fridge and freezer so that I by only what I need to make complete meals.  The things necessary to complete the meals almost always come from the sale paper and most other items not on sale come from Aldi--and I have to say, I HEART ALDI!  I know I've said it before, but I had to say it again.  I managed to buy only $56 of groceries to make two meals (plenty of leftovers for two other nights), a loaf of bread (wheat, but Keith will only eat small amounts of because it's not full of preservatives), a dessert that will last several days and TWO bottles of wine (my mommy juice! ha!)

We did so well this week, that we a just skimming back a little next week and we will be paying for our nice hotel room in Chattanooga next weekend in CASH!  Still in our budget, YAY!!!  (The hotel room is for my sweet Jilly's wedding!  YAY AGAIN!!!)  And we managed to get through our weekly budget "meeting" with one small duel.  Hehe.  Love you, honey! :)

So I digress.  I am so infatuated with coupons that I have even started a spread sheet of all the coupons I have so that when I get all the weekly circulars, I can just glance down my list and easily see if I have any coupons to match the sales.  I'm also trying to keep all of my weekly sales papers because, apparently, there are cycles in when certain items go on sale.  That way you only buy the items you want when they are on sale.  I honestly believe that there should be a class on all these tricks at the local colleges!  Oooh, and a new coupon tip I learned from Ingrid (my freshman year roomie, BFF and now mommy of 3!) is that expired coupons are STILL useable!!!  She said that only Walmart,that she knows of, will NOT accept expired coupons--that leaves four other stores I shop at!!!  Whoo-hoo!

My inventory of what I have in food supplies will also be put into spread sheet form, but that might not happen until Knox is with Grammy and Grandaddy.  By having my inventory I can plan meals around what I have--I have run across a website where you can type in ingredients and it will spit out possible recipes.  Now that I have said that, I'll actually have to find that web address.  I'll get back to you on that one.  If anyone is wondering why I am so obsessive-compulsive like this, I might have to chalk it up to my father's keen organization skills engraved into my head, which I fought fiercely in my adolescent years.  Love you, Big Daddy!

My other attempt at saving money is making Knox's food.  I can get a bag of frozen peas for about $1.50, which would make the equivalent of 8 servings (which I buy prepackaged for $1 for 2 servings).  I mean, no real math needed there!  I also had to use frozen strawberries for the dessert I made this week (which I got a large bag at Aldi for about $1.60).  I used what I needed for the dessert and pureed and froze the rest.  So when Knox needs a fruit, I can just pop a few cubes out to defrost and there you go!  I bought a $10 food mill at Target, in hopes that it would process the food a little finer than what the food processor could do.  Not so much.  It will be good for some things though, like rice and possibly meats.  Don't know if I want to take on the last one--yucky!

I was worried at first about the texture.  Knox has gagged a few times if something is fairly thick or has chunks--he is his mother (and grandmother's) child!  I was pureeing canned peaches I got on sale and let Knox be the taste tester.  He gagged a bit, so I gave him a bit more just because I thought he would get used to it.  NOPE!  It all came back up.  I tried with the peas, and it didn't go well at first, but when hidden with tomato beef macaroni, he scarfed it down.  Score one for Mommy!

So that's my frugality for the time being.  I'm sure there will be more in the near future!